PhotoDude on Photo Safari
An Illustrated FAQ
"An artist is a creature driven by demons. He doesn't know why they choose
him and he's usually too busy to wonder why" ---William Faulkner
This page serves several purposes:
- To answer the questions I know I will get via e-mail if
I don't place them here.
- An attempt to partially explain how one human's simple
vacation can become such a monstrosity as this.
- A repository for odd photos and self-portraits that didn't
make the cut elsewhere.
Q: Why do you put so much time and energy
into putting your "vacation" online?
A: For the same reason you breathe ... because I have
no choice. For the same reason you have sex, even though it can be
exhausting ... because it's such an addictive thrill. I enjoy
photography and observational writing, and with the Olympics I found that I could
combine them on the Web. That experience was an incredible ongoing creative
rush, pure free form fun, and this trip was conceived and planned
to expand on that idea. And if you put a highly visual being in
the midst of such panoramic wonderlands, there is bound to be a
creative flood, and it may well end up on your monitor.
---CLICK any image to ENLARGE---
Q: Tell me what film, cameras, lenses and exposures
you used so I can take pictures as good as yours.
A: I shot 82 rolls of Fuji Velvia, and four rolls of
Kodak High Speed Infrared Black & White, all 35mm. I travelled
with two camera bodies (Canon EOS 620 & 650), one loaded with
Velvia, one with infrared, and four lenses (20mm, 28mm, 50mm, and
80-200mm zoom). As for exposures, I don't record that information,
but I can assure you I used whatever one was appropriate, as well
as several that weren't.
"Gonzo journalism is a style of 'reporting' based on William Faulkner's idea that the best fiction is far more true than any kind of journalism—and the best journalists have always known this. . . . True gonzo reporting needs the talents of a master journalist, the eye of an artist/photographer and the heavy balls of an actor. Because the writer must be a participant in the scene, while he's writing it—or at least taping it, or even sketching it. Or all three. Probably the closest analogy to the ideal would be a film director/producer who writes his own scripts, does his own camera work and somehow manages to film himself in action, as the protagonist or at least a main character."
---Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Q: I already know how to take pictures as good as
yours. Tell me what computer hardware and software you use so I
can make a web site as good as yours.
A: I use a Pentium 100 with 80 MB of RAM, and
a Polaroid SprintScan 35/LE (35mm film scanner). All JPG's
were created with PhotoImpact 3.0 (with two plug-ins, Kai's Power Tools 3.0, and AutoFX),
and pages were coded with Homesite 2.5. I highly recommend both programs.
---CLICK any image to ENLARGE---
Q: How did you plan this trip?
A: Within an inch of its life. This was a total "Net-Trip,"
from beginning to, well, this page. I utilized the WWW to search
for information about the places on my itinerary. Obviously, there's
a huge number of pages about the Grand Canyon, but you'd be amazed
how much you can find about the less known places as well. I discovered
I would be near Antelope Canyon while visiting a web page about
Page, Arizona. At one point I was trying to find a room in the
tiny town of Mexican Hat, Utah, after finding that the one motel
I knew of was full. Expecting nothing, I found a page that listed
every accommodation in the town. It's *all* out there.
"Using a camera appeases the anxiety which the work-driven feel about not working when they are on vacation and supposed to be having fun. They have something to do that is like a friendly imitation of work: they can take pictures." ---Susan Sontag
Q:Where did you come up with all
the quotes from other people?
A: It started when I first got on the Net. I began
collecting quotes I came across, mostly from people's sig
files, about any and every topic. First I culled the relevant
ones from there, and then searched for quotes about specific
subjects using my Bookshelf 95 CD (which has a book of quotations), and the Web. I also received a nice collection
of quotes, as well as pointers to other resources on the web from
a Net-Friend by the name of Shadow Dancer. These were all piled
together, and when I was writing a page and came to a place
requiring a quote, I'd pick through them until I found one
that was appropriate.
(By the way, Fred's pictured here because "Bedrock City," a uniquely cheesy tourist trap that seemed
quite out of place, was located across the street from
my hotel at the Grand Canyon.)
---CLICK any image to ENLARGE---
Q: Why are you so small in all these so-called
self portraits?
A: It wasn't intentional. Only upon editing the
film and placing them all side by side did it become obvious.
When you spend a week in places that are a mile deep, or a
thousand feet tall, they tend to make you realize how tiny
you are in the great scheme of things. Apparently I subconsciously
rendered myself accordingly on film.
"But our trip was different. It was a classic affirmation of everything right and true and decent
in the national character. It was a gross, physical salute to the fantastic possibilities of
life in this country---but only for those with true grit. And we were chock full of that."
---Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
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